Chido Awaziem Claims Abusive “Derogatory Term” Used by Sergi Palencia

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Last night, Colorado Rapids played at LAFC in the Concacaf Champions Cup. LAFC won 1-0, advancing on away goals 2-2. Around the 84th minute, the match was stopped for several minutes. Rapids center back Chidoze Awaziem claimed derogatory language was used against him by LAFC fullback Sergi Palencia. The Rapids asked the referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere to investigate.

“There was an incident that happened on the field. Our player, Chidoze Awaziem, was pretty clear and upset at a derogatory term that he (Palencia) said. He (Awaziem) was clear about what was said. Our club, myself, we’re fully behind our player to support him with an investigation into what exactly what went down. He was pretty upset,” Colorado Head Coach Chris Armas said in the postgame press conference. 

“One of Colorado’s players had heard something, a word, that bothered him. He thought that it was directed towards him. I don’t know what directly what was said. I was on the sideline. I’m sure the referees will write a report and then we’ll figure it out from there. If players hear something and they can’t play, we want to support the players. We’ll let the referees and Concacaf figure that out,” LAFC Head Coach Steve Cherundolo said. 

When asked, neither coach denied that Palencia was the accused.

No player made available in the mixed zone claimed to have heard the exchange directly. It appears only Awaziem and Palencia were within earshot for what was said or not said. 

Palencia is from Spain originally. He played five years in France as well. Awaziem played a year in France. His teammates talk about how many languages he speaks. It’s possible the exchange was in Spanish, French, or English. The center official speaks French and English, so presumably the three could have had a conversation amongst each other in a common tongue. There would be no issue communicating to the benches either.

At time of publishing, it is not known if the supposed language was racist in nature. Awaziem is a person of color if you didn’t already know. Palencia is light in complexion. 

Firstly, I am sick and tired of this being something in our game. Soccer is the world’s game and is for everyone. I hope Palencia did nothing offense. I hope nobody else did either. We’ve seen Concacaf, MLS, and its clubs handle these incidents in various ways. It’s a he-said-he-said situation. Colorado dealt with this last year with Moïse Bombito when he was on national team duty. So understandably, they are supporting their player again.

We’ve seen D.C. United under Wayne Rooney oblige the accusation to not let the issue linger. We’ve seen clubs and coaches try to dismiss it. Innocent until proven guilty? Or is Palencia suspended, fined, sent to sensitivity training, etc. to deter future incidents even if he himself did nothing wrong?

I don’t know anymore. We’ll see what Concacaf, LAFC, and even MLS do.

Photo Credit: John Babiak

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